As an ophthalmic photographer by day, and a crafter by night, I welcome you to a world of my favorite things: crafting, primitives, folk art, photography, antiques, thrift stores, and general weirdness! Hope you find a few ideas here; Happy Crafting! :)

My craft show is sneaking up on me, and I am in super-mega-crafting-mode! Over the weekend I finished a giant batch of cinnamon applesauce ornaments, which are always a hit at the craft show. Instead of hanging them up as actual ornaments, I just package them up as “bowl fillers” that can be sprinkled in with potpourri, fixins, or wherever! I decided to scrap the stars and go with all gingerbread men this year! They almost look good enough to eat!!!

These are an easy, CHEAP craft and would be great to do with kids, as party favors, stocking stuffers, or just for fun. They are made of pure cinnamon so the scent is strong and long-lasting. Google “cinnamon applesauce ornaments” for the basic recipe, and I’ll tell you how I tweaked mine. 🙂

The recipe calls for a bit of white glue, which I was out of, so I used some mod podge. The cinnamon was 2 for $1 at Walmart (or at the $ Tree). It also calls for equal parts applesauce to cinnamon, which I find makes the dough too wet. I use about 2/3 cup applesauce to every cup of cinnamon, and just go from there until it feels right.

A normal person would roll out the dough with a rolling pin, but since I am a redneck and apparently do have the most basic of baking tools, I used this empty beer bottle sitting on the counter. It worked great! Git-r-done!

I keep one bottle of cinnamon to dust the wax paper with, so the dough doesn’t stick. Use it like you would flour when baking. Sprinkling it on top of the dough also keeps the beer bottle, or rolling pin, from sticking! 🙂

I did all gingerbread men, but stars or hearts could be made all year ’round!

They are taking over! Gingerbread men everywhere!!!

I made them about a 1/4 inch thick. Too thin and they’ll snap easily.

They take a good 2-3 days to dry all the way through. The thicker they are, the longer they take to dry. You can toss them in a little bowl…

…or sprinkle them in with your country fixins to add some holiday flair!!!

For packaging, I am using these little clear “treat bags” that you can get at any craft store in the baking section – these bags come is all sizes & quantities!

And now that they are all packaged up, I wanna make more! Maybe this weekend! Sorry Greg. Hehe. 🙂

Have a wonderful Turkey Day!!! Enjoy the long weekend, the great food, and time with family and friends!!!

P.S. I updated the previous “Homespun Candy Cane” tutorial with some new pics of exactly how to wrap/glue them. It’s super easy but I thought a few additional photos might come in handy. Happy crafting! 🙂

It’s doesn’t sound stupid!! Before I made them, I always assumed you had to bake them, but you don’t!! They just air dry. It can take a while if they are thick. My big ones are finally dry after 4 days of sitting out on the table. Thanks for your comment Missy! Have a Happy Turkey Day!! ~Maggie 🙂

I love these! But I do have a ? Can you bake these so they will dry faster? I make little stars and hearts and poke 2 little holes in them and use them for buttons on homespun bows for that added touch! But I’m out and I have a few orders in for some little salt box houses and I put a homespun bow and star on them. Thanks and I hope you get this!

Do you have issues with them cracking or breaking? My mom has been a teacher for over 30 years and has been making these as ornaments with her students for ages (I remember doing them when I was in her first grade class over 20 years ago). Anyways, she told me that she stopped adding the applesauce and just does a glue / cinnamon combo until she gets the consistency that she likes and has found that they are much harder to break.

No I have not tried that Valerie! I do not have a dehydrator or else I’d give it a try. Have you done it that way and if so, how did they come out? I love those little ornies and hope to get around to making more this holiday season. 🙂 Maggie

Welcome to Eyeballs By Day, Crafts By Night!

As an ophthalmic photographer by day, and a crafter by night, I welcome you to a world of my favorite things: primitives, country crafts, folk art, photography, antiques, flea markets, thrift stores, eyeballs, and enjoying the simple things in life!